Civilizations that you find boring to play

[DarthSheldonPhD]

Greece. Two VERY early game UUs that rock at barb defense, but are too early to be incorporated into an effective campaign. From the time they become obsolete, BOTH PRE-RENAISSANCE (absurb) until the end of the game they are simply a generic civ that's more efficient with CS influence and maybe has an extra general or two from upgraded horseman.

 

[kb27787]

Anything except Polynesia, Brazil, Venice, and Spain
The rest of the civs follow a very specific build/tech order it's not funny... at least with these guys you have to adapt every game (Spain also has some variability; she needs to find the best way to abuse the NW she managed to get in her borders).

 

[Jon the Bastard]

I would echo the original poster's pick of Egypt. I absolutely loathe their UU. Their UA is pretty cool and all, but there really isn't anything all that attractive to me about a civ who's only claim to fame is wonder spamming. The UB is awesome though, I'll give them that. It just feels like I get to a point in my games with Egypt where I'm sitting back and pressing enter a bunch of times, waiting for buildings to finish.

I really don't have any others, honestly. I like the fact that there are civs that are a little more versatile than the rest so I can go for multiple victory types, you know? The kind of civs that can adapt relatively well to the evolution of the game. But, I also like the fact that there are certain civs geared more toward a certain victory type. I like that if I'm feeling like I want to crush a bunch of city-states, I can pick up a game as Mongolia and have some fun. I may never finish it, but I'll get what I was looking for out of that game.

 

[Astennu]

Greece. Two VERY early game UUs that rock at barb defense, but are too early to be incorporated into an effective campaign. From the time they become obsolete, BOTH PRE-RENAISSANCE (absurb) until the end of the game they are simply a generic civ that's more efficient with CS influence and maybe has an extra general or two from upgraded horseman.

My sentiments exactly. One the ancient era is over its an absolute snoozefest.

America is the opposite as I find their UA extremely boring but their later to come units quite interesting. I have never played them due to the dullness of the UA.

Japan and Germany as well.

Bushido bores me and the new cultural changes only alleviate that a little.

Germany because I've never liked the idea of rounding up heaps of weak Barbarian units. The newly introduced Hanse does look interesting though. I also really dislike Germany's colour scheme (and Japans), Grey is so drab and depressing. Its a shame because I love German culture and have really enjoyed my visits there.

Songhai's UU offers limited bonuses and extra gold from pillaging does not interest me very much.

 

[SirWinston]

Russia: More production + more resources ... how exiting *yawn*... mediocre UU and UB ...
Babylon: Pretty boring UU and UB + pretty boring trait
Greece: meh ... I really like them in the early game ... but later on ... meh
...
/*Here is room for some other civs *gg* */

 

[Biologist]

By category, my least favorite civs to play are:

Culture/Tall Empire: Ethiopia. It would probably be India, but honestly I never play as India. Ethiopia has a fun early game with early religion, but I always feel obligated to sit back and build tall with them, and Mehal Sefari is of minimal use in aggressive wars. Also I keep scaring myself with my starting warrior, thinking a barbarian is nearby when it's just my unit.

Preferred alternative: Maybe Egypt. I'm just not a fan of tall culture games to begin with.

Warmonger: Huns. Weird, I know, but once the battering ram/horse archer party is over, it becomes a long slog with no particular advantages (I usually play on Large maps). I have actually had some very fun games with Germany using Landesknecht spam. Aztecs almost made this list because of trudging through jungles early on, but upgraded Jaguar Warriors are too much fun.

Preferred Alternative: Zulu. Fun units, fun bonuses, and a leader who has not one but two theme songs!

Science: Babylon. Nice bonuses and all, but a little... stale. I haven't really tried Korea yet to compare.

Preferred alternative: Mayans. Fun to play with their unique calender and Great Person mechanism. early advantages are nice, while the calendar bonus pays dividends throughout the game.

Religion: Spain. Not one of the "Big Three" (Celts, Mayans, Ethiopia) religion civs, but it can be played as a religion-centric civ using Natural Wonders. I don't really enjoy doing that, though.

Preferred Alternative: Celts. Super-fast religion, useful warmongering unit, and bonus happiness building.

Expansionist: America. I want to like their implementation, I really do, but they're just so.... bland.

Preferred Alternative: Shoshone. Everything Civ 5's America wishes they could be. Super land-grab and optimized ruins bonuses mean it's hard to have a really bad start with Shoshone.

Generalist: Persia. Of all the "grab-bag" civs, Persia excites me the least. Maybe it's because I'm awful at generating enough golden ages to use the bonus correctly, but I never seem to do well with them.

Preferred Alternative: China. Paper makers are awesome, chu-ko-nu are awesome, Art of War is awesome... they're a fun civ that can be made to fit almost any strategy.

 

[vibe96]

For me it's india, huns, 'murica, germany, japan, ethiopia, greece, celts, babylon and persia. they don't have anything interesting or unique, and most of them are pretty warlike. Maybe the worst are the vikings. I have never even bothered playing them.

My favourites are the aztects for jags and UA. I also like polynesia for exploring the seas and colonising the best islands. Spain and inca are also cool but a bit OP imo.

 

[GoStu]

Most boring but effective: Babylon. After your free Academy, it's like you're playing a totally plain civ. Sure, scientists turn up more often, but who's really counting turn-by-turn? Bowmen are gone before you know it now, and the walls... MEH.

Most boring and ineffective: Brazil. Have fun with that Jungle start, where you don't even want to cut down the Jungle! You really can't improve those tiles until Guilds, and then you'll do them all over for Brazilwood camps. Finally, the UU is the single latest UU in the game and frankly I just don't want to get into any wars as I'm trying to finish off my Culture win. Maybe I'll retry them and go Autocracy for the lulz & try and synergize the +50% tourism while at war with a common enemy with the Pracinha. (Kind of funny when you know the story of the Pracinhas). Extra minus points for the fact that you can often win the Culture game before you build a Pracinha though.

Most boring and debatable civ: America. The +1 sight is arguably useful in the very very very early game, like the first dozen turns early. It's really hard to point to something and say "I wouldn't have gotten that otherwise" though. And it's hard to remember two hundred turns later that the Ruin you wouldn't have seen otherwise catapulted you to a first social policy, which later.... uh...

Most tedious: anyone purely warmongering. I like to play on 8-10 civs, and finishing the last couple off is always such a slog. I spam any anti-air unit I can just to not watch all the goddamn Great War Bombers lazily trundle around the sky.

 

[Zenstrive]

Bored? Go to war. Assign spies. Spread missionaries!

 

[Zezima]

India. Always India. Byzantium is pretty bland to me as well, but their UA at least provides an engaging and dynamic mechanic. India is just.... BLECH. Siam is probably my third since, IMO, there are just so many better CS-related civs.

Every other civ I can enjoy to some degree. I actutally really enjoy America even though it isn't one of my favorites. New Germany is simply awesome.

I may have said France before fall patch, but the additional changes to influence bonuses make them not so shoehorned into CV.... I guess.

 

[Merciorum]

Poland is immensely boring.

 

[Maucat]

America is the most boring, useless UA and UU only at the end of the game
India is in 2nd position, interesting UA but boring gameplay
Brazil is in 3rd place, I cannot understand how to resist until the game's end without sleeping

Other boring Civs are: Siam, Mongols, Sweden, Poland, France (with BNW she looses a lot), Portugal and Incas

I like play warbringer Civs as Rome, Germany (with the Hansa she's a must), China on continents
I like play naval Civs as England, Venice, Byzanthium on archipelago or little islands
I like play specific oriented Civs as Maya, Korea, Spain in a lot of maps

 

[MKDELTA3]

If the civ has an UA that really fits only one victory goal and comes with dull uniques then I will likely find it very boring unless I feel like going for that goal. Greece is the worst of all and BNW France is the worst offender compared to what it was. Railroaded into wonderspamming with a very bland UU. And to think that the timing and bonuses of Foreign Legion would have fit a culture victory oriented civilization much better.

I find Brazil much more interesting for culture victories and one of my overall favorites. They are clearly culture-victory oriented but I find their bonus much more engaging and dynamic somehow. Pracinhas aren't earth-shatteringly awesome but come at just the right timing for taking down culture rivals. Their unique ability speeds things along a bit. They're great fun to go autocrazy with.

I also don't find Poland boring at all. Their UA is one of the best but it's also very dynamic and you can do pretty much anything with them. Great toolbox civ. Shame their UU is a Lancer though I guess it kind of balances things out.

 

[headcase]

Brazil. I'm actually not against a civ that is completely flavorless for the first half of the game, but the fact that's mostly just culture\tourism advantages... yawn. Note that I don't find tourism boring, just that tourism bonuses are. France is more fun though.

Korea has tech advantages. powerful, boring, and a DLC cash grab ("buy this civ so you can win on a higher difficulty") all at the same time. I hate tech advantages.

Babylon does have early flavour (defense). Technically this gives them a unique position, and I do like build civs, but still... yawn. Doesn't help that it has tech advantages. Find a more interesting and non-tech UA and I'd probably like those walls.

Mongols need some sort of CS conquest bonus. Dare I say, a GP? They can even lower the attack bonus if they did that. As is... I mean the Keshiks and Khans can be fun, but I don't know, never really enjoyed a game with 'em.

Russia, maybe I'd change my mind if I played as them again...

Spain, of course the main problem is "luck-based", but "boring" isn't far behind since, unless NWs are just the right distance away, they're either UP or OP and when they're OP it's not in a "yay, let's see just how amazing an empire I can make" sort of way like Morocco can be.

Not boring but mentioning them:

Venice is fun but probably OP. I've only barely won on Emporer with cooking with anyone besides Venice, but Venice in archipelago and no further cooking yielded an admittedly close Deity win. Yeah, I know, they handle high difficulties well, but still. I would consider cutting their extra trade routes by half.

I like America. That sight bonus is all kinds of fun from my POV. Just wanted to throw that out there. Still, I understand the other side of this argument

Same with India. I mean, from an historic standpoint their UA is dumb to be sure, but in gameplay terms I like it fine.

 

[Karmah]

Brazil....
Look i building an early wonder , its called a worker , it takes 27 turns .....zzzzZZZZZZ
oh look 20 turns have passed , you managed to improve one tile.....zzzzZZZZZ
but it s ok end game is so good ....just neeeeeddd tooo waaaiiittt ......